A grid of twenty-eight faces. Smiling, neutral, expectant. None of them exist. These portraits were generated by neural networks before large language models and generative AI tools became household names.
Each face suggests identity, culture, perhaps memory—but they are empty of history. The work anticipates the silent normalization of synthetic humans in media, politics, and communication. The absence of bodies reinforces their non-existence. No breath. No blood. No background.
By freezing them in a stark black-and-white aesthetic, the image emphasizes erasure rather than creation: no names, no context, only simulated presence.
It’s not just a warning—it’s documentation of a threshold. Before the tools exploded, before everyone could make anyone, these ghosts were already smiling.